© MURAKAMI, a retrospective of the work of Japanese artist Takashi Murakami, opens Saturday at the Brooklyn Museum. Organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Los Angeles, where it was on view until February, the exhibit primarily focuses Murakami's work between 1991 and 2000, when the artist began exploring "his own reality through an investigation of branding and identity." (One additional work, Murakami's 6,613 pound, 18 foot-tall Oval Buddha sculpture, will be on......

Tonight marks the beginning of the Film Society at Lincoln Center's 45th annual New York Film Festival and oh what a jam-packed fest it is. A panel of film critics chose 30 of the best new international movies to show to New York's discerning audiences and they picked hometown director Wes Anderson's newest, The Darjeeling Limited (which also comes out in theaters this weekend) to open the festival. Gothamist was pleasantly surprised at how much......

Cops seized 160,000 pairs of counterfeit Nike shoes from six locations in Queens, Brooklyn, and Staten Island after conducting a multi-year investigation to disrupt pirated merchandise. The New York Sun reports that it was one of the largest busts of counterfeit goods in US history and one of four recent successful operations that targeted purveyors of fake Microsoft, Motorola, and Nike products. The haul of bogus shoes was reportedly worth $7.1 million. The Staten Island-based......

Just when you thought the story about Foxy Brown being robbed by her pimp ex-boyfriend's friends couldn't get more crazy, now it does. The Brooklyn native claims she was never robbed and that she wasn't even in Brooklyn at the time of the alleged attack. She said, "A lot of the time, people mistake me for someone else, or people always call in these false tips." However, the police say the rapper, whose real name......

After being sentenced to a week of community service mopping floors at a Department of Sanitation warehouse on the Lower East Side, Naomi Campbell has embarked on the other part of her reformation. As part of her plea deal for striking her housekeeper with a rhinestone-encrusted cellphone, Campbell must also complete two anger management classes. And it seems she completed the first one yesterday. The Post finds out that the supermodel spent five hours at......

As 2006 ends and 2007 begins, the -ists look back not at the past week, but at the past year. So here it is, your Best of 2006 Spectacular. And from all of us at the -ists, happy New Year! Austinist was all about controversy as new construction to increase urban density ran rampant in 2006, as did threats to the city's image from gigantic corporations looking to set up shop in town, leading......

Today, the NY Times Thursday Styles section looks at two popular accessories: The tiny, teacup dog and the huge, monstrous hobo totes. Many women love little dogs, especially since their little dogs can be dressed in little designer outfits. And many women love their big purses because they can carry everything, even if they are suffering back and shoulder pain as a result. We are surprised that the area of intersection for these two topics......

Yesterday, the holiday windows for Louis Vuitton were unveiled and no perfect-for-fashionistas monogrammed bags were on the display. Instead, huge lamps peering out onto the street are in the windows, in a work designed by Danish artist Olafur Eliasson. Eliasson, who frequently uses lights and lamps (he designed the Weather Project that was a sensation at the Tate Modern in 2004), explained the holiday windows work, Eye See You, in the LVMH magazine:"Essentially, what I......

Ah, spring... time to clean out the closets, put away the winter duvet and, yes, time to stow away that black bag and bring on the color. This spring, it is all about color and pattern. And size definitely matters. While those teeny tiny clutches can be cute, Gothamist needs the cavernous capabilities of a serious tote. Okay, with all the bag snatching going on, you may be better off with a clutch. For many......

DCist helps us make more sense of the world this week. Posts like this concert review are the reason for Scott Stapp. DCist also enumerates the reasons for playing ultimate frisbee, Condi’s tight buns, their love of a local convenience store, and their jealousy of a person in Seattle calling the city. LAist documented graf artist Banksy’s most recent visit to LA in one two three posts. They also found the best possible use......

Various city agencies have long been trying to crack down on counterfeit goods, from handbags on Canal Street to clothing in the Garment District. Recently, a judge ruled that landlords of buildings that house counterfeit vendors can now be held liable. Landlords will have to post signs saying these are counterfeit vendors and possibly evict the vendors as well. Hmm, Gothamist hates to be cynical, but those signs will be exactly what tourists want to......

The NY Post puts the mug of a puggle - a mix between a pug and a beagle - on the cover, saying that this accidental breed is the hottest in the city. Metro Puppy Kennels owner Brian Incovaia says, "Everyone is clawing for them, it's ridiculous. I get people calling left and right for them and basically you get the equivalent of breeding a Marc Jacobs bag with a Louis Vuitton." Well, that's a......

Just in time for tonight's Critical Mass bike ride, it turns out that rapper Foxy Brown may have hit two bicyclists during the pre-Republican National Convention August ride last year. Her former friend, Ayesha Quattara, says that Brown blamed her for driving a Land Rover on West Houston Street, while it was really Foxy behind the wheel. Apparently the women were trying to get from one Louis Vuitton store to another before it closed since......

Why do bodegas insist on putting everything in a brown bag, and what's with sometimes putting one item and its brown bag inside a plastic bag? Glenn Gothamist shares your curiosity and, from the tone of your email, frustration. We recently bought a pack of gum at our local Duane Reade and before we could say anything, the sales clerk put our tiny purchase in a small white plastic bag. As we left the......

The Village Voice looked at the popular handbags seen in the city. To date: There seems to be a decline of Louis Vuitton, while Vuitton designer Marc Jacobs own big-buckled bags have tremendous staying power (they telegraph "I went to college, but I'm still kind of arty"). On the other hand, Coach logo bags mean "I went to college too, and I have a really good job!" and a canvas bag from the Strand or......

With out-of-towners streaming in to take part in NYC's holiday festivities and shopping, those guys on the corner, with the easy-to-pack-up displays of fake purses have been sitting pretty. Yesterday, the NY Times examined the busy Canal Street counterfeit purse trade, which was bustling. While most woman can't (and won't) pay $1,000 dollars for a new purse, many might have opted for a less expensive key ring or coin purse that might go for $150-200,......

Jen Bekman, Gallery Owner...

Since taxi fares are going to increase (and even the TLC commissioner admits that taxi ridership will probably drop), you could splurge on an extra special limited edition Metrocard holder from Hermes that goes for $150. While $150 is a lot of money if you're not Martha or an avid subway memorabilia collector, given that many people buy $70 monthly cards, even going as far as to get insurance for the card, $150 might not......

Police and other authorities seized $2 million in counterfeit goods yesterday in Chinatown at 415 Canal Street. The haul included "enough fake Louis Vuitton clutch bags, bogus Kate Spade calfskin totes and faux Fendis to keep hundreds of low-rent supermodels happy through all 12 days of Christmas," reports the Times' Michael Wilson. Police Captain Kevin McGowan said, "I'm not saying these people are associated with terrorist organizations but some counterfeit rings are. It's a great......

The latest TV guilty pleasure is Newlyweds, MTV's glimpse into the marriage of pop singers, Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey, which Gothamist covered a while back. The Post looked at the show, which is the new darling of MTV, outpacing The Osbournes these days (but not The Real World Paris, which boggles our mind, because RW Paris sucks), mainly because this marriage made in publicity and artist management heaven seems based on all the wrong......

After noticing our interest in Takashi Murakami, Greg of greg.org invited Gothamist to check out the Murakami installation at Rockefeller Center. We happily accepted and headed over to midtown with Peter Rojas. The huge 30-foot ballons were strung over the rink, and the main sculpture was flanked by smaller areas of mushroom-toadstool growths. It's dramatic in a very different way from Puppy or the Spiders; there is a lot of visual information, with the......

Murakami at Rockefeller Center
Debate over the Japanese pop artist. Is it art? Is it silly? Is it any good?
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Japanese pop artist Takashi Murakami is speaking tonight at the Public Art Fund. Best known for his subversions of Japanese anime images, and more recently embraced by fashionistas for his redesign of the Louis Vuitton bags (the colored LV logo), Gothamist loves his work and the fact that he splits his time between Tokyo and Brooklyn. He had a huge exhibit in Grand Central a few years ago, which had his sculptures hanging in......